Dearly Beloved…

We stand on the brink of catastrophic changes to our planet, our health, cultures, and our American political system, all of which will have far-reaching and possibly disastrous ramifications.

To all higher powers, be they divine beings, manifestations of a Goddess, G-d, Allah, Supreme beings, Spirit, Jah, Lord, Creator, and/or Savior.

To all divinities, real, imagined, dreamt, worshiped, forgotten, or even existing solely within ourselves, we beg of you to help us to find our way back to our shared humanity.

This is a moment to gather our strength, both individual and shared.

This is a moment to care for one another with greater depth, tenacity, and sincerity than ever before.

Image of a pink and white dahlia flower in bloom

Dear Almighty, Let us be humble, and mindful of the magnitude of our exquisite earth, glorious universe, and the multiverses beyond. We are tiny, fleeting, and ultimately inconsequential, yet our daily choices and habits have far reaching impacts. Let us be ever aware of our potential to unwittingly harm, and seek to limit or eliminate our negative forces on animals, plants, other humans, and the earth.

Allow us to accept our mortal frailty with open eyes, reminding us to protect those who are delicate, aging, or ill. Let our compassion and decency guide our actions and keep our ailing neighbors in mind to ensure mask wearing, hand washing, and physical distancing. Let us remember that distance is an act of love, that wearing a mask is how we can participate in this pivotal moment of global solidarity.

Help us to be cognizant of our roles during the greatest examples of human interconnection in the past 100 years. We are truly one humanity; separate and yet more entwined than ever. Let our awareness reflect our connectedness, and let us be guided by gentle consideration of others.

Now more than ever we need unfettered creativity, expansive dreams, and unbridled visions of a more inclusive, gentle, and compassionate world. For those of us with means, please extend monetary support to our artists, poets, musicians, and dreamers and may each of us have the time and capacity for some form of creative expression and the accompanying joy, calm, satisfaction, and pleasure.

Dear Divine Teacher, Let us be grateful for our material and non-material wealth. We can chose to see abundance when we take stock of our health, friends, safety. We can chose to share and spread abundance by reaching out to those who lack those things by supporting selflessly, giving generously, and spreading goodness.

May we be gentle yet firm with ourselves as we learn, make mistakes, and ask hard questions. For those of us that are white, this means holding ourselves and other white people accountable for doing better, learning more, and taking up the mantle of working for an actively anti-racist future. For those of us that are black, brown, and indigenous, may the pressure to teach and guide white people be lifted; taken up by knowledgeable and articulate allies.

Let us find the internal amplitude to think calmly before jumping to conclusions, making assumptions, or allowing our own biases to fester unchecked or unexamined. May our compassion be refilled and multiplied each day to allow us to be good caregivers to ourselves and others. May our patience and gentleness extend beyond our friends and neighbors, but to strangers and others, both near and far.

Dear Infinite Spirit, let us be diligent in our work for a peaceful world. May we have the fortitude to lend our voices and energy to reimagine and restructure our precious democracy now and for future generations. We will flood the streets in honor of justice and equality, we will never cease fighting for civil liberties. Let us never abandon hope for a functional, rational, inclusive, healthy, and vibrant society and democracy.

May we utilize any opportunity to pay tribute and spread awareness of the indigenous peoples whose lands were stolen, the very lands on which we all now live, work, and play. May we have the clarity to acknowledge the myriad privileges many of us possess, and recognize those very advantages may be a direct result of the suffering, pain, enslavement, or murder of black, brown, indigenous, and people of color. May we each find our role in working to soothe those long-standing wounds, and find our way as individuals and collectively to facilitate healing.

Dear Creator of all and everything, please heed our prayers. Let us be aware of how finite, mortal, and fleeting we are, and help us use our precious time to lift one another up, leading with love and gentle hearts.

Give us the strength to face the suffering all around us, to witness and sit with the reality of despair, and still chose to lean in with love and empathy.

Allow our perspective to float up among the stars every now and again, to periodically view the human race from the heavens and recognize how fragile and ultimately ephemeral our lives truly are.

May the perspective of the stars allow us to drop our shoulders, relax into the mystery of uncertainty, take a few long, slow, deep breaths, and remember that tenderness, compassion, and decency are the keys to living in harmony with ourselves, each other, and our planet.

With special thanks to Jose Adastra and Reverend Hannah Grace

This article first appeared in the Daily Hampshire Gazette on 10/5/20